Guide for an electrician&#39;s snake



June 12, 1956 F. F FOWLERIET AL GUIDE FOR AN ELECTRICIANS SNAKE FiledMay 21, 1954 United States Patent O 2,750,151 GUIDE Fon AN ELECTRICIASSNAKE Application May 21, 1954, sei-iai No. 431,552 4 claims. (ci.2511-1343) This invention relates to a guide for `an electricians snakeand has for its primary object to facilitate the introduction of anvelectricians snake into a conduit and to avoid the possibility of thesnake `becoming snagged during its passage through a conduit. l

Another object is to avoid the danger of the guide becoming wedged inthe conduit and to enablei't to follow bends 'in the conduit even thoughthe latter rn'ay be relatively sharp. i j y ,l

A further object is to reduce to a minimum cthe friction of the guide onthe walls of the conduit so -as to enable the snake to be passed throughvthe conduit with but a minimum of effort.

A still further object is to detachably 'couple the guide to the snakein a manner that will prevent it frornbecoming accidentally disengagedfrom the snalr'ey while passing through a conduit and yet willfacilitate ,the di'sconnection of the guide from the snake and thesubstitution for said guide of a cable pulling head.

The above and other objects may be attained by employing this inventionwhich embodies among its features a body which tapers adjacent oppositeends and is constricted intermediate its ends to facilitate its passagethrough a bent conduit, antifriction elements carried by and extendingoutwardly from said body intermediate the ends thereof for engagementwith the conduit during its passage therethrough, and means carried bythe body adjacent one end thereof for detachably coupling anelectricians snake thereto.

Other features include an annular ange carried by the body and extendinglongitudinally therefrom adjacent one end thereof, an inwardly extendingannular ange carried by the longitudinally extending ange and deliningwith said body an annular chamber, and said flanges having a slotextending therethrough in intersecting relation to the longitudinal axisof the body for admitting a coupling member into the chamber.

Still other features include recesses extending through the flange andopening into the chamber to receive a portion of the coupling member tohold the coupling member and the body against relative rotation, andyieldingly projected means carried by the body and extending into thechamber for engaging the coupling member and holding it in the recesses.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional view through a length of conduitshowing this improved snake guide in the process of being passedtherethrough;

Figure 2 is an end view of the snake guide on an enlarged scale;

Figure 3 is a side view of the guide illustrated in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially on theline 4 4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially on the line5 5 of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially on the line6 6 of Figure 3;

ice

Figure 7 is an enlargedy fragmentary perspective view of the coupling bywhich the snake is connected to the snake guide; l l

,Figure 8 is a side view of a pulling head which is adapted to bedetachably coupled to the snake after l-it has been guided through theconduit and the snake guide has been removed therefrom; and

l Figure 9 is `a plan view partially in section of the head illustratedin Figure 8. v

Referring to the drawings in detail, this improved snake guidedesignated generally 10 comprises an elongated body 12`which is taperedas at 14 adjacent one end and as at 15 adjacent its opposite end. Thisguide is provided intermediate its ends `with a constriction 18 toenable it to be passed through a conduit C having a relatively sharpbend therein, as will be readily understoodupon reference to Figure 1. l

The body 12 is provided adjacent its forward end 14 with an annular rowof circumferentially spaced recesses 20 in which are seated antifrictionbearings 22 anda similar row of recesses 24 are provided inthe bodyadjacent 'the rear end thereof for the reception ofrjantifrictionbearings 26. These antifriction bearings 2 2 and 26' are adaptedto engage the wall of a conduit C to red uce to a minimum thefrictionalvcontact of the guide 10 with the conduit during its passagetherethrough.

Anelectricians snake S hasd connected thereto adjacent one end thereof across member or bar 28, the .purpose of which will hereinafterappear,rand carried by the b ody 12 Vadjacent the rear end thereof andextending longitudinally outwardly therefrom is an annular extension 30carrying vadjacent its outer en d anV inwardly extending flange 32 whichdefines with the body 12 an annular chamber 34 which is adapted toreceive the cross member or bar 28 to couple the snake S to the guide10. A slot 35 extends transversely through the extension 30 and ange 32to accommodate the cross bar 28 during its introduction into the chamber34. Extending through the flange 32 and opening into the chamber 34 is agroove 36 which extends perpendicularly to the slot 3S so that when thecross member or bar 28 is introduced into the chamber and rotated aquarter turn, it will be received in the groove 36 so that relativeturning movement between the snake S and the guide 10 will be resisted.

Extending into the body 12 in concentric spaced relation to theextension 30 is an opening 38 in which is mounted for longitudinalmovement a spring pressed ball 40 which is yieldingly extended into thechamber 34 under the influence of a compression coil spring 42 whichseats against the inner end of the opening or bore 38 and the ball 40 tohold it in the position substantially as illustrated in Figure 4. Itwill thus be seen that when the snake S is coupled to the guide 10 bythe insertion of the cross member 2S into the chamber 34 and therotation thereof a quarter turn relative to the body 12, the ball 40will bear on the adjacent end of the snake S to yieldingly urge thecross member into the groove 36 to retain the parts connected untildeliberate uncoupling effort is employed.

After the snake S has been pushed through the conduit C, the guide 10will extend into an outlet box to which the conduit is connected and inorder to install a conductor in the conduit, a wire pulling headdesignated generally 44 having a coupling unit designated generally 46which conforms in all respects to the coupling unit of the guide 10 iscoupled to the cross member 28 of the snake S, and carried by the head44 adjacent the end thereof remote from the coupling unit 46 is an eye48 having an opening 50 extending therethrough through which theconductor or cable containing the conductors is extended to couple theconductor or cable to the head 44. The head is provided with outwardlyextending antifriction bearings 52 corresponding in all respects to thcantifriction bearings 22 and 26, previously described, in order tofacilitate the pulling of the head 44 through the conduit C and theintroduction of the conductor or cable into the conduit.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferredembodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that minor changesin the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A guide for detachable connection to an electricians snake comprisinga body which tapers adjacent opposite ends and is constrictedintermediate its ends to facilitate its passage through a bent conduit,antifriction elements carried by and extending outwardly from said bodyintermediate the ends thereof for engagement with the conduit during itspassage therethrough, and means carried by the body adjacent one endthereof for detachably coupling an electricians snake thereto.

2. A guide for detachable connection to an electricians snake comprisinga body which tapers adjacent opposite ends and is constrictedintermediate its ends to facilitate its passage through a bent conduit,antifriction elements carried by and extending outwardly from said bodyintermediate the ends thereof for engagement with the conduit during itspassage therethrough, and said body having a bayonet type couplingsocket opening through one end thereof for receiving a bayonet typecoupling carried by an electricians snake.

3. A guide for detachable connection to an electricians snake comprisinga body which tapers adjacent opposite ends and is constrictedintermediate its ends to facilitate its passage through a bent conduit,antifriction elements carried by and extending outwardly from said bodyintermediate the ends thereof for engagement with the conduit during itspassage therethrough, an annular extension carried by the body andextending longitudinally therefrom adjacent one end thereof, an inwardlyextending annular flange carried by the extension and defining with saidbody an annular chamber, and said extension and flange having a slotextending therethrough in intersecting relation to the longitudinal axisof the body for admitting a coupling member into the chamber.

4. A guide for detachable connection to an electricians snake comprisinga body which tapers adjacent opposite ends and is constrictedintermediate its ends to facilitate its passage through a bent conduit,antifriction elements carried by and extending outwardly from said bodyintermediate the ends thereof for engagement with the conduit during itspassage therethrough, an annular extension carried by the body andextending longitudinally therefrom adjacent one end thereof, an inwardlyextending annular ange carried by the extension and defining with saidbody an annular chamber, said extension and flange having a slotextending therethrough in intersecting relation to the longitudinal axisof the body for admitting a coupling member into the chamber, said angehaving recesses extending therethrough and opening into the chamber toreceive a portion of the coupling member to hold the coupling member andthe body against relative rotation, and yieldingly projected meanscarried by the body and extending into the chamber for engaging thecoupling member and holding it in the recesses.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS263,586 Rittenhouse Aug. 29, 1882 1,194,793 Styers Aug. 15, 19161,672,324 Kepler June 5, 1928 2,509,115 Wait et al. May 23, 1950

